N01152:54
The inexcusableness of neglecting the worship of God, under a pretence of being in…
The inexcusableness of neglecting the worship of God, under a pretence of being in an unconverted condition. Showed in a sermon preached at Northampton, the 17th. Decemb. 1707. being the time of the sitting of the Inferior Court. / By Solomon Stoddard, Pastor of Northampton. ; Imprimatur, J. Dudley.The inexcusableness of neglecting the worship of God, under a pretence of being in an unconverted condition. Shewed in a sermon preached at Northampton, the 17th. Decemb. 1707. being the time of the sitting of the Inferiour Court. / By Solomon Stoddard, Pastor of Northampton. ; Imprimatur, J. Dudley.
printed by B. Green. Sold by Samuel Phillips, 1708
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
6. The Church is bound to receive men if they be externally qualified, whether they be Godly or no. If men make a profession & are not Scandalous in their Conversation, the Church cannot refuse them. The Apostle still received those that made a profession of the Gospel, Act. 2. 41. & 6. 7. Those that are Saints by calling are to be accepted of the Church, whether they be Converted or not. The matter of the Church are visible Saints: if the Church were only to receive those that are Converted, God would have given them a certain rule, in attending of which Unconverted Persons should be excluded, but there is no such Rule given: Neither is there any external sign, that does certainly distinguish Converted men from Unconverted; the Church is not concerned to see that they be all real Saints, their work is to see they be visible Saints, if they reject such they are to blame.
6. The Church is bound to receive men if they be externally qualifyed, whether they be Godly or no. If men make a profession & are not Scandalous in their Conversation, the Church cannot refuse them. The Apostle still received those that made a profession of the Gospel, Act. 2. 41. & 6. 7. Those that are Saints by calling are to be accepted of the Church, whether they be Converted or not. The matter of the Church are visible Saints: if the Church were only to receive those that are Converted, God would have given them a certain rule, in attending of which Unconverted Persons should be excluded, but there is no such Rule given: Neither is there any external sign, that does certainly distinguish Converted men from Unconverted; the Church is not concerned to see that they be all real Saints, their work is to see they be visible Saints, if they reject such they are to blame.
7. It cannot be an unlawful thing for men to keep the External Covenant. As the visible People of God have a natural power, so they have a lawful